S01.E11: A Dream of a Thousand Cats/Calliope

[Which Tyler]

Quote

In the two-part story collection, a Siamese cat dreaming of a new world and a writer in desperate need of inspiration cross paths with Morpheus.

Guest appearances by:

Sandra Oh as The Prophet
Rosie Day as The Tabby Kitten
David Gyasi as The Grey Cat
Joe Lycett as The Black Cat
Neil Gaiman as Crow/Skull Bird
James McAvoy as Golden-Haired Man
David Tennant as Don and Georgia Tennant as  Laura Lynn
Michael Sheen as Paul and Anna Lundberg as Marion
Nonso Anozie as Wyvern
Diane Morgan as Gryphon
Tom Wu as Hippogriff

Melissanthi Mahut as Calliope
Arthur Darvill as Richard Madoc
Nina Wadia as Fate Mother
Souad Faress as Fate Crone
Dinita Gohil as Fate Maiden
Kevin Harvey as Larry
Amita Suman as Nora
Derek Jacobi as Erasmus Fry

Edited August 19, 2022 by Which Tyler

[Which Tyler]

[starri]

Well, that was a surprise. 

[Mr. R0b0t]

Loved both parts of this.  Working with a dog rescue I often wonder about the horrors of animals giving birth and then humans just sell, give away or worse the offspring.  In a vacuum I understand why, but you have to sell yourself on animals not having feelings to live with the practice. 

Given how dark 24/7 went, I was surprised they pulled a few punches on the horror Calliope faced.  

[Chicago Redshirt]

Ric Maddoc repeatedly raped Calliope over years and profited from it. I know it's for the best that the show downplayed this and did not portray the rapes directly as the comic did. But I think that the show let him off easy.

I'm a little uncomfortable that they had him advocate the Hollywood production of his work have a diversity component, as it implies that the people who do so in real life might be as hypocritical and disgusting as he is.

Edited August 19, 2022 by Chicago Redshirt

[quangtran]

Hmm, I'm curious as to how other non-readers will review this ep. Even though the stories are 90 percent faithful to the text, I feel like a lot of the dark moodiness of the comic has been stripped out of the some of these episodes. The harsh shadows in the book did a lot more to sell the horror than the blue tint in the show. As for the acting, I mostly didn't mind the actresses who played Rose and Lyta despite the many complains from viewers and critics, but for this ep could have used a more experienced actress to sell the sad plight of Calliope.

1 hour ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

I'm a little uncomfortable that they had him advocate the Hollywood production of his work have a diversity component, as it implies that the people who do so in real life might be as hypocritical and disgusting as he is.

I don't get the impression that this was the message, only because Neil himself has been an advocate for diversity in this very show.

[Fukui San]

Warning: Please avoid watching Dream of A Thousand Cats in the presence of your cat.

Or do, it could hardly be worse, could it?

[Chicago Redshirt]

47 minutes ago, quangtran said:

Hmm, I'm curious as to how other non-readers will review this ep. Even though the stories are 90 percent faithful to the text, I feel like a lot of the dark moodiness of the comic has been stripped out of the some of these episodes. The harsh shadows in the book did a lot more to sell the horror than the blue tint in the show. As for the acting, I mostly didn't mind the actresses who played Rose and Lyta despite the many complains from viewers and critics, but for this ep could have used a more experienced actress to sell the sad plight of Calliope.

I don't get the impression that this was the message, only because Neil himself has been an advocate for diversity in this very show.

People's mileage will vary, but I think they tried to make this Calliope less of a victim and give her more agency, for instance, having her say that she's going to seek to change the laws that led to her having served decades as a sex slave. The implication in the book was that Calliope wanted to resume her romantic relationship with Dream immediately, and that Dream pretty much saw her as beneath him. Here, Dream was tender toward her. 

I don't think, of course, that the powers that be intended to convey the message that diversity advocates are secret hypocrites any more than they wanted to convey the message that feminist authors are secret rapists. But the message is there to be taken all the same.

52 minutes ago, Fukui San said:

Warning: Please avoid watching Dream of A Thousand Cats in the presence of your cat.

Or do, it could hardly be worse, could it?

If they make the thousandth cat, and we suddenly find ourselves playing games of cat and person, you would only have yourself to blame. :)

[Fukui San]

2 hours ago, quangtran said:

Hmm, I'm curious as to how other non-readers will review this ep. Even though the stories are 90 percent faithful to the text, I feel like a lot of the dark moodiness of the comic has been stripped out of the some of these episodes. The harsh shadows in the book did a lot more to sell the horror than the blue tint in the show. As for the acting, I mostly didn't mind the actresses who played Rose and Lyta despite the many complains from viewers and critics, but for this ep could have used a more experienced actress to sell the sad plight of Calliope.

I don't get the impression that this was the message, only because Neil himself has been an advocate for diversity in this very show.

I'm finding that aspects and details that are quickly alluded to in the book are spelled out a lot more in the TV for understandable reasons, I suppose, but in ways that make it feel that they don't trust the audience as much.  In the book there was the throwaway line "I always considered myself a feminist author" which says everything about him. But then there's the redoubling here of Richard's insistence that half the cast and crew must be women and POC, which is just the same point but told again and more artlessly. This happens quite a bit as a general rule in this series, and I can see why but I wish they'd pull it back a bit. 

Fun that between Arthur Darvill, David Tennant and Georgia Tennant there were three Dr. Who people in the episode that I know of. 

And the surprise bonus episode seems like a great idea in general assuming the show goes multiple seasons. There are so many standalone stories in the series that don't fit a traditional TV series narrative structure. It's a good way to insert the oddball comic stories in.  A Dream of a Thousand Cats was one of my favorite issues. Glad to see it adapted well. Animation was a good choice.

[Which Tyler]

4 minutes ago, Fukui San said:

Fun that between Arthur Darvill, David Tennant and Georgia Tennant there were three Dr. Who people in the episode that I know of.

David Jacobi as The Master
And, of course, Gaiman himself

Edited August 19, 2022 by Which Tyler

[Chicago Redshirt]

2 minutes ago, WatcherUatl10 said:

 I also didn't recall the three-in-one interacting with Calliope in the book. I know that the muses themselves are seen to be a form of them, having begun in myth as three, and continuing as a multiple thereof.

That scene was largely taken from the comic.

Obviously, the three-in-one were depicted with more diversity in the Netflix version. The other main change is that Calliope is more haughty at first when Dream is brought up, and then as/after the Three-in-One leave she pleads for them to send someone "even Onerois(sp?)

[ItCouldBeWorse]

9 hours ago, starri said:

Well, that was a surprise. 

A wonderful surprise.

[bmoore4026]

I knew it would happen because I read the story, but I still wasn't prepared for

Spoiler

the kittens drowning.  Still ripped my heart out.

I have one of our cat's is walking on the desk with the computer that I'm on right now demanding affection.  Wonder how she'd react if someone told her the Siamese cat's dream.

And I'm so used to Arthur Darvill playing good and/or moral guys (in the stuff I've seen him in), that I marveled at him as Richard Madoc, who went from frustrated, desperate writer to scumbag in a short amount of time.

The actress playing Calliope was great.  She brought a gentleness to the character, even when she was insulted by the gifts and calling out for the Fates and their discussion.  I wonder what will become of Calliope after all this.  Are her other sisters still around?  Does Olympus still exist?  I really hate to think of her just wandering around London.

That brief conversation Richard has about "hiring cast and crew that are fifty percent female and people of color and the need to publicize  it so the studio can't back out later" was a bit on the nose self commentary, wasn't it?

Edited August 20, 2022 by bmoore4026

[Zuleikha]

A Dream of a Thousand Cats was practically word-for-word from the graphic novel, but of all things, they censored the cat sex. Would it have been that difficult to animate a bush or tree giving the cats their dignity? It seems like such a strange thing for a show like the Sandman to censor! 

I think they lightened up Calliope too much. The show seems very timid about letting female characters suffer. Strong female characters with agency are great, but that isn't the whole of the human experience. There are plenty of great, powerful female characters in these stories. The show doesn't need to be so afraid of letting some of the female characters suffer.

Likewise, I think they don't need to be so afraid letting Dream be a cold asshole. His character has a journey to go on. I think the story was more powerful in the more downbeat, much darker graphic novel version.

(But I did still like the adaptation despite the lighter tone. I thought both leads did great jobs with layering their performances. These episodes make me excited for the other potential standalones that the show may do.)

[MissL]

12 hours ago, Zuleikha said:

I think they lightened up Calliope too much. The show seems very timid about letting female characters suffer. Strong female characters with agency are great, but that isn't the whole of the human experience. There are plenty of great, powerful female characters in these stories. The show doesn't need to be so afraid of letting some of the female characters suffer.

Likewise, I think they don't need to be so afraid letting Dream be a cold asshole. His character has a journey to go on. I think the story was more powerful in the more downbeat, much darker graphic novel version.

(But I did still like the adaptation despite the lighter tone. I thought both leads did great jobs with layering their performances. These episodes make me excited for the other potential standalones that the show may do.)

I don’t know. I think we’ve seen enough shows that give us graphic rape scenes and female suffering. I’m ok with the implication without seeing. We get it and from the blood on his cheek we see she fought him.  I have my opinions on why continually showing violence against women isn’t necessary but man I’m just not feeling very eloquent today…there is an article on IGN about this that sort of expresses it….but also can’t seem to figure out links today. 

On another seemingly unpopular note I DID NOT enjoy the cat portion of this story. I found it slow, boring, and weird. I did laugh a little because it did feed into the cat stereotype that they are always plotting to kill us. Doesn’t mean I’m not interested in seeing some side stories but that one just didn’t do it for me. 

[tennisgurl]

This was such a wonderful surprise after finishing the season! This was a great idea, doing these one off episodes to tell stories from the comic that don't have a ton of plot relevance but are really interesting and advance the stories themes. These were good stories to adapt as well, they both have themes of how people/cats deal with abuse by people with power over them. I hope that they give us a few more of these in between seasons, its a great way to tell a lot of the comics really great stories without having to take big breaks from the plot. This is a story about stories, I want as many as I can.

My cat was sitting on my lap while I was watching this, I don't think she would quite buy what the Prophet was selling. She would probably think that hunting humans sounds like too much work, better to have humans deliver food to them and then go back to her nap. Those poor kittens. I think animating the episode was a great concept, it looked lovely. 

I am just fine with them not being too graphic about what Calliope went through, we were showed enough to get what was going on and how horrible it was. The actress playing Calliope was great, she looked like what I imagine a Muse would look like and had such a grace about her. I love Arthur Darvil so much and am used to him playing good guys, so seeing him as such a loathsome person was rough, he really pulled it off. I really liked his punishment of giving him so many stories it overcooked his brain, and then leaving him the way he started. It reminds me of how Dream handled the Collectors, he took away their delusions of grandeur and showed them how terrible and empty they really were. Richard is left with nothing after the horrible things he did, he cant lie to himself about him and Calliope being "artistic partners" or how he's a great author, he's left knowing that he's an awful person with mediocre talent.  

[Zuleikha]

2 hours ago, MissL said:

I think we’ve seen enough shows that give us graphic rape scenes and female suffering.

I didn't say anything about wanting to see a graphic rape scene or anything graphic at all. I lose track of which shows have which rules about source material vs. tv talk, so I'll use spoilers to clarify what I'm talking about:

Spoiler

in the graphic novel, Calliope is kept naked and in a dingy room that is drawn to evoke a prison cell. In the show, she is wearing a dress that I'm guessing was meant to look like a slip, but looked more like an evening dress that could be worn to a fancy party. The show shot Morpheus's nudity sensitively in the first episode--there is no reason they couldn't do the same for Calliope, or even have her wrapped in a sheet rather than a dress. The room didn't need to look like a room in a luxury hotel but could have looked dingy, like in the novel.

The graphic novel also shows that Calliope is affected by what's happening to her whereas the show portrays her as defiant and confident the whole time. 

To me, it is not relevant whether there are other shows that have portrayed female suffering. It is about what best tells the story that the show I am watching is trying to tell. If it worked for you, I'm genuinely happy for you. But to me, it came across as timid and afraid of its own story. 

[Glade]

On 8/19/2022 at 5:39 AM, Chicago Redshirt said:

I'm a little uncomfortable that they had him advocate the Hollywood production of his work have a diversity component, as it implies that the people who do so in real life might be as hypocritical and disgusting as he is.

I was also really uncomfortable with this, as it might just give fodder to the people who scream "WOKE" every time they see a POC, woman, or LGBTQ person on-screen and insist it's all empty hypocrisy, when no matter the motivation, it is a good thing.   Though of course those people hate this adaptation of The Sandman to begin with.  But that, coupled with the off-hand mention of washed up transphobe Rowling, was off-putting.  I think it would have been more coherent if they tipped this in the direction of metoo and depicted him as deriving all his talent from a woman and then arguing against diversity and hiring women for his movie adaptation. 

I haven't read the comics, and didn't get that Calliope was being raped from what was in the episode either, which is fine. 

[QuantumMechanic]

3 hours ago, Glade said:

I was also really uncomfortable with this, as it might just give fodder to the people who scream "WOKE" every time they see a POC, woman, or LGBTQ person on-screen and insist it's all empty hypocrisy, when no matter the motivation, it is a good thing.

On the other hand, something like this is warning about not being taken in by people like Weinstein who say all the right things in public but are oh so different out of the spotlight.

No one is being done any service by pretending people like Weinstein (or Madoc) don’t exist.

Edited August 21, 2022 by QuantumMechanic

[Black Knight]

On 8/19/2022 at 11:39 AM, Chicago Redshirt said:

I know it's for the best that the show downplayed this and did not portray the rapes directly as the comic did.

Note that the artist for the comic totally disregarded Gaiman's instructions in that regard, so I wasn't surprised Gaiman fixed that for this adaptation.

I liked that Madoc initially tried not to go the route of raping her. Not because it makes him better, because it makes him worse: He clearly knew it was wrong, but went ahead anyway.

I loved Calliope's little smile when Madoc asked if she was giving him nightmares, and she knew Dream had gone into action. I also think Calliope and Dream had great chemistry.

I loved Dream of a Thousand Cats. The animation was basically perfect - my only complaint is that I felt like CatDream didn't look enough like a cat, I would have thought dog or wolf if I didn't know he was supposed to be a cat. But the dead crow, that version of the Dreaming, the kitten, the Siamese cat prophet, all great. I was also impressed at the animation of the tomcat she took for her lover - they really made him look like the cat version of a hunk that just drives women wild, LOL. I think I read somewhere that they wanted an oil paintings look for this, and I definitely got that aesthetic from the episode.

I'm happy to report that my two cats showed no interest. But my good friend has a cat who, he reports, was transfixed to the screen the entire time. 999 more cats to go. I think for the sake of humanity there really should be a warning label at the start of this episode. It may be near impossible to get 1000 cats to do anything, but if millions of cats happen to see this episode through their human staff, I'm not feeling comfortable about those odds.  ;)

[MissLucas]

On 8/20/2022 at 2:45 AM, bmoore4026 said:

  Reveal spoiler

the kittens drowning.  Still ripped my heart out.

And I'm so used to Arthur Darvill playing good and/or moral guys (in the stuff I've seen him in), that I marveled at him as Richard Madoc, who went from frustrated, desperate writer to scumbag in a short amount of time.

He played an evil version of a good character in Legends of Tomorrow and was surprisingly menacing. I'm not familiar with the comics but I also think his character got away too easy. Maybe a flash-forward to seeing him in the future after having lost everything would have helped.

On a side note: Gaiman or the casting director must be a Taskmaster fan (or a fan of UK stand up).

[Chicago Redshirt]

As far as we see, Netflix Maddoc had the flood of ideas in abundance and then was back to normal after he released Calliope. He still is an apparent multi-millionaire potential big shot based on his rape-based writings. 

Comic Maddoc...

Seemed much worse for the wear from his experience, although he was a worse offender, or maybe it's the other way around depending on your perspective. 

Comic Maddoc did not try to woo Calliope at all, but raped her the first night he got her home. We find out later in the series that he was left in a sanitarium and basically had the ability to come up with original ideas stripped from him because of the experience, and only gradually started to have it restored..

[scarynikki12]

41 minutes ago, Black Knight said:

I'm happy to report that my two cats showed no interest. But my good friend has a cat who, he reports, was transfixed to the screen the entire time. 999 more cats to go. I think for the sake of humanity there really should be a warning label at the start of this episode. It may be near impossible to get 1000 cats to do anything, but if millions of cats happen to see this episode through their human staff, I'm not feeling comfortable about those odds.  ;)

Mine had no interest either but a ton of people reported their cats being all in on the episode:

[Black Knight]

37 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

As far as we see, Netflix Maddoc had the flood of ideas in abundance and then was back to normal after he released Calliope. He still is an apparent multi-millionaire potential big shot based on his rape-based writings. 

Yes, he has what he's written already, but he cannot think of any new ideas. He specifically talks at the end about how hard it is for him to think and how he has no ideas, they've all gone with her, and he's pretty weepy and distraught.

It was just the same for that issue of the comics. What you mention wasn't shown until many issues later, years later, during the final volume of the series. So the TV show is not departing from the comics.

[Chicago Redshirt]

People's mileage may vary, but the comic left me with the distinct impression that all was not well with Maddoc at the same point in time that this episode ended, such that his comic fate made sense when it was revealed.

The show left me more with the impression that Maddoc was mostly back to normal at the end of it. Maybe that is a function of my imagination of his madness being stronger than the Netflix portrayal, or the direction that the show gave Arthur D., or maybe it is because this Calliope talks about forgiveness being necessary for healing and how she won't forgive the act, but she will forgive the man.

It possibly will get to the same endpoint if/when the series gets far enough. 

[quangtran]

I always got the impression that Maddoc ended up worse. Before he lacked inspiration, but afterwards he lost all ideas altogether.

[raeb23]

22 hours ago, Zuleikha said:

in the graphic novel, Calliope is kept naked and in a dingy room that is drawn to evoke a prison cell. In the show, she is wearing a dress that I'm guessing was meant to look like a slip, but looked more like an evening dress that could be worn to a fancy party. The show shot Morpheus's nudity sensitively in the first episode--there is no reason they couldn't do the same for Calliope, or even have her wrapped in a sheet rather than a dress. The room didn't need to look like a room in a luxury hotel but could have looked dingy, like in the novel.

If Calliope was kept naked in a dingy room, Richard could not continue to lie to himself about his true nature. Trying to relate to Calliope as a collaborator rather than as his prisoner and championing diversity seem like ways to assuage his guilt and protect his own ego; to make himself feel better about what he has done to her. Similar to Fry justifying his actions with the fact that Calliope isn't human. I don't think any of that means she isn't suffering - a gilded cage is still a cage.

9 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

The show left me more with the impression that Maddoc was mostly back to normal at the end of it.

His career as a writer/ director is over. At the hospital he seemed to have lost all creativity and some of his memories. He'd also have to deal with fallout of having a public meltdown. Considering he didn't have much of a personal life, I think losing his talent and career is pretty much a death knell for him.

[Chicago Redshirt]

19 minutes ago, raeb23 said:

If Calliope was kept naked in a dingy room, Richard could not continue to lie to himself about his true nature. Trying to relate to Calliope as a collaborator rather than as his prisoner and championing diversity seem like ways to assuage his guilt and protect his own ego; to make himself feel better about what he has done to her. Similar to Fry justifying his actions with the fact that Calliope isn't human. I don't think any of that means she isn't suffering - a gilded cage is still a cage.

His career as a writer/ director is over. At the hospital he seemed to have lost all creativity and some of his memories. He'd also have to deal with fallout of having a public meltdown. Considering he didn't have much of a personal life, I think losing his talent and career is pretty much a death knell for him.

Maybe it's cynical of me, but at a certain point, a Hollywood writer does not have to have new ideas, and a director certainly doesn't.. They can recycle old ones or hire people to do the actual work and just take credit for it. Because of his rape-based work (at least three projects that were referenced explicitly), I'm thinking Maddoc is at that point. He was already had the juice to make demands of Hollywood like the ability to direct and the diversity requirement that were presumably accepted.

The only thing he showed he did not remember was Dream's name. Maybe he forgot more, but maybe he forgot less. Maybe any memory he lost would return after the shock wears off.

Fair enough that there would be fallout from him freaking out at a lecture in 2022, in a very different way than might have happened in 1989 when the story was first written. Somebody would almost certainly have caught part or all of the freakout on video and it would get uploaded to YouTube and other social media. And his agent/PR person would have to spin it. But this is all speculating.

We aren't shown enough to know how much of  a personal life Maddoc might have had to really know.

But looking at this in a pretty uncharitable light -- lack of career, lack of memories, lack of friends -- this Maddoc still seems to get off easy IMO.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

On 8/20/2022 at 5:38 PM, Glade said:

I haven't read the comics, and didn't get that Calliope was being raped from what was in the episode either, which is fine. 

As Dream said to Madoc: "...she has been demeaned, abused, defiled."  When Madoc came downstairs after his visit to her and starting typing with gusto, his clothing was askew and he had a bloody scratch on his face. He had defiled her for the first time, and continued to do so every time he needed "inspiration". Remember, she told him she would not willingly inspire him while he held her captive, so he took what he needed by force.

Also note the text on the book jacket shown in the episode of Erasmus Fry's "masterpiece" Here Comes a Candle: "She was his muse...and the slave of his lust!"

https://www.reddit.com/r/Sandman/comments/p3zd4g/neil_shares_prop_cover_of_erasmus_frys_novel_from/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

When Erasmus Fry got too old to rape her for inspiration, he traded her for the bezoar, and suggested that Madoc use force to get what he wanted.

Edited August 22, 2022 by ItCouldBeWorse

[ItCouldBeWorse]

On 8/20/2022 at 9:24 PM, Black Knight said:

my only complaint is that I felt like CatDream didn't look enough like a cat, I would have thought dog or wolf if I didn't know he was supposed to be a cat.

I agree.

On 8/19/2022 at 4:15 PM, WatcherUatl10 said:

 I liked how Calliope's plight being similar to Morpheus' had such an impact upon how he wanted to punish her captor.

Agree with this, too.

17 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

But looking at this in a pretty uncharitable light -- lack of career, lack of memories, lack of friends -- this Maddoc still seems to get off easy IMO

He did indeed, because Calliope requested it. He could easily have been tortured with guilty dreams. I suspect if he lives long enough, his works will fall out of favor the way Erasmus Fry's did. They both seem to crave adulation. 

The ironic thing is that if Madoc had just freed Calliope after her half- century of imprisonment with Fry and then begged her to inspire him, there's a good chance she would have out of gratitude. Alex Burgess had good reason to fear letting Dream go, but Madoc was just greedy.

Edited August 22, 2022 by ItCouldBeWorse

[ItCouldBeWorse]

10 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

X

Edited August 22, 2022 by ItCouldBeWorse

[FierceCritter]

On 8/20/2022 at 9:24 PM, Black Knight said:

I'm happy to report that my two cats showed no interest. But my good friend has a cat who, he reports, was transfixed to the screen the entire time. 999 more cats to go. I think for the sake of humanity there really should be a warning label at the start of this episode. It may be near impossible to get 1000 cats to do anything, but if millions of cats happen to see this episode through their human staff, I'm not feeling comfortable about those odds.  ;)

I would have liked a warning label, but for the reason that I'm hyper sensitive to animal cruelty. Like, overboard sensitive. The kitten scene had me ugly sobbing while my 2 cats milled around me very concerned.

That said, Stanley was completely transfixed during the episode. I'd have taken a photo, but where he was watching from the sofa wouldn't allow for the TV to be in-frame in the photo. I wouldn't say that means only 998 cats to go, because - bless his little kitty heart - Stanley sometimes needs me to point out the food he's been meowing for all morning was placed in front of him minutes ago. He needs his human to ensure his $3 a can sensitive dietary food is delivered to him - and pointed out to him - twice a day.

[raeb23]

19 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

But looking at this in a pretty uncharitable light -- lack of career, lack of memories, lack of friends -- this Maddoc still seems to get off easy IMO.

I definitely think there are worse fates and I wouldn't have shown the grace that Calliope did. But I think that there's a reason we were told what happened to Erasmus; it's possible things end similarly for Maddoc. I haven't read the comic though, so my thoughts are just based on this episode.

[revbfc]

On 8/19/2022 at 1:07 PM, Fukui San said:

Warning: Please avoid watching Dream of A Thousand Cats in the presence of your cat.

Or do, it could hardly be worse, could it?

I was watching it, and my cat showed up to take a nap on my lap.

I’m guessing her con is a long one.

[Jodithgrace]

My cat showed no interest in the show at all. However, he is already plotting against me, so he was probably feigning indifference. 
 

For some reason, it never occurred to me that the Author was raping Calliope, though it’s obvious to me now after reading the comments. I’m not a comic reader.

I thought a bezoar was something found in the stomach of a goat, and was much smaller than that huge thing. Of course I did all my research by reading Harry Potter. 
 

Edited to add: I looked up bezoar and it is just a ball of undigested stuff like hair which can be found in the stomachs of different animals, including humans. 

Edited August 24, 2022 by Jodithgrace

[QuantumMechanic]

1 hour ago, Jodithgrace said:

For some reason, it never occurred to me that the Author was raping Calliope, though it’s obvious to me now after reading the comments. I’m not a comic reader.

They definitely made it somewhat subtle.  You had Fry saying "I found the use of force efficacious", Calliope saying "I didn't give it to him, he took it".  And then when we go back to Madoc after that fade-to-black he's typing furiously away and we see a bloody scratch on his face.  I wonder if I would have picked it up had I not read the comics.

[DoctorAtomic]

(not having read the novels) "Oh, is this a bonus episode! What the...?" I'm not a cat person, but just throwing the babies away is horrific. Give them away or take them to a shelter. Stellar animation though. 

Rory and Amy Pond were a favorite. I don't want to see him like this!

[MisterGlass]

While I didn't want to see the violence, I did feel they glossed over Calliope's suffering.  There could have been more scenes from her perspective while Richard was prospering.  Fry was exactly as horrible as I expected him to be, but then Derek Jacobi can bring menace.

I did like the interactions between Calliope and Dream. 

The Dream of 1000 Cats was as perfect an adaptation of a comic story as I've seen.  There are a few more stories that show the Dreaming from other points of view, and I hope we see them adapted.

[thuganomics85]

Somehow missed when this was first announced, so I just got around to it.  Can't definitely see why these weren't in the initial season since it would have been hard to fit them into the main story, but I thought these were fun bonuses and wouldn't mind seeing more stand alones like this in the future.

Liked how they had "The Dream of 1000 Cats" be fully animated instead of attempting any kind of live action/CGI mix.  Really brought like to the cats (Tabby was adorable!) and made me fully invested in The Prophet's story.  Probably accurate that cats would totally be able to overthrow the human race if they wanted to, but the obstacle is getting them all on the same page!  But, if 1000 of them do listen to her, then whelp, it was fun while it lasted, humans!

Top notch voice cast as well, to say the least.  Definitely was recognizing a lot of the voices there, but the easy one was clearly David Tennant.  That man's got an distinctive voice!

"Calliope" was definitely giving me some Twilight Zone-like vibes and got really dark, but I loved it.  Melissanthi Mahut was excellent as Calliope: kept trying to place where I've seen her before, but then I found out it was her voice I was familiar because she played Kassandra in the video game Assassin's Creed: Odyssey years ago and did great work there as well.  Certainly wouldn't mind if she went onto bigger things going from here!  Arthur Darvill was equally great at starting out like a typical, aloof but relatable Arthur Darvill character, but then showing his nasty side real quick!  Definitely a good "against type" performance here (sure, Rip Hunter had a bit of an edge to him on Legends of Tomorrow, but he wasn't a complete scumbag.)  Derek Jacobi made the most of his screen time as well.  Wouldn't mind them revisiting Calliope and her history with Morpheus at some point.

Glad I gave it a go finally!

[JustHereForFood]

I've seen many people posting about their cats watching this with them. I tried to inspire mine and repeatedly asked her to watch it with me, but she preferred to sleep (she is not a TV cat, can't even get her to watch programs with real animals). Well, I did what I could, the world where cats are in charge would be much preferable to me these days.

On 8/20/2022 at 2:45 AM, bmoore4026 said:

I knew it would happen because I read the story, but I still wasn't prepared for

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the kittens drowning.  Still ripped my heart out.

On 8/22/2022 at 3:52 PM, FierceCritter said:

I would have liked a warning label, but for the reason that I'm hyper sensitive to animal cruelty. Like, overboard sensitive. The kitten scene had me ugly sobbing while my 2 cats milled around me very concerned.

I'm with the two of you. I wouldn't care much for a similar scene with humans, even children, but I can't stand violence towards animals. When I read the comic, I was like "Oh, great! An issue about cats dreaming, this will be my favorite!" And then I was horrified.

The rest of the story was good, I liked the ending, the kitten was really cute and that scene when it was obvious to us, but not to her people that she just dreamed about playing with a human before eating them was priceless. 

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Regarding the second story, I agree with those who say that the writer got off lightly at the end. And completely unrelated, but I found some of his ideas that he started to sprout quite interesting. Maybe someone will take an ispiration.

On 8/20/2022 at 6:48 PM, MissL said:

I don’t know. I think we’ve seen enough shows that give us graphic rape scenes and female suffering. I’m ok with the implication without seeing. We get it and from the blood on his cheek we see she fought him.  I have my opinions on why continually showing violence against women isn’t necessary but man I’m just not feeling very eloquent today…there is an article on IGN about this that sort of expresses it….but also can’t seem to figure out links today. 

On 8/21/2022 at 3:23 AM, QuantumMechanic said:

On the other hand, something like this is warning about not being taken in by people like Weinstein who say all the right things in public but are oh so different out of the spotlight.

No one is being done any service by pretending people like Weinstein (or Madoc) don’t exist.

The writer calling himself a feminist writer made me think about Whedon - men trying to take credit for being feminist seems like a red flag.

On 8/22/2022 at 4:56 AM, ItCouldBeWorse said:

The ironic thing is that if Madoc had just freed Calliope after her half- century of imprisonment with Fry and then begged her to inspire him, there's a good chance she would have out of gratitude. Alex Burgess had good reason to fear letting Dream go, but Madoc was just greedy.

Exactly. She even said it at one point: Ask me when I'm free. But he was probably afraid that she would leave immediately so he put his writing over her freedom and safety. Selfish dick.

[JustHereForFood]

We are getting closer!

[Quark]

I was very confused by this episode, as I thought this would act as the finale to the season, when the previous episode acted as the last show. 

I skipped the cat stuff, as I have zero interest in animation, but enjoyed the second half of this. Arthur Darvill did a great job.

The show itself has a very intriguing premise, although I was a bit baffled at how little interconnection there was between the first and second half of the season. Could have acted as two seperate seasons.

Overall, the acting is very good and it is visually stunning. I look forward to more seasons.